CHRIST THE KING LUTHERAN CHURCH
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH - MISSOURI SYNOD
440 STONEVILLE RD. 485-4432
Pastor Thomsen Amanda Stacy, DCE
(906) 250-2132 (402) 650-3132
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DRIVE IN WORSHIP SERVICE
GOOD FRIDAY
April 10, 2020 7:00 Worship Service
Hello and welcome to our "Drive-in" Church service, it's good to have you here and good that we are able to find a way to gather at this time. Please tune your radios to 87.9 FM, and be sure to stay in your cars so we maintain social distancing protocols. After service is over there will be ushers at the parking lot exits with offering plates if you would like to give an offering. When service is over please be patient as you leave the parking lot as it may take some time.
NOTES ON THE SERVICE: Tonight is a very somber night. Tonight we journey to the foot of the Cross. How strange that the path to the light of salvation should lead first into the darkness of Good Friday, of our Lord's death for sin. Only this path leads to the light and joy of Easter.
Today our service begins with a taste of the new Covenant that Jesus brings us into. His body and his blood are the sacrifice that wins forgiveness, and so we begin in the joy of our forgiveness and end facing the reality of how it was won. At the end of the service the lights will be turned off to leave the congregation recalling the words of Jesus on the night of His betrayal, "Now is your hour and the hour of the power of darkness." The paschal candle, symbolizing Christ is removed from the church and will not be returned until Easter morning. This symbolizes the death of Jesus. You will then hear a loud noise reminding us of the heavy stone rolled in front of His tomb. Then as the congregation Leaves in silence a bell will be tolled 33 times, once for each year that Jesus lived on this earth.
WELCOME and GREETINGS OF PEACE
INVOCATION
Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen
CONFESSION and ABSOLUTION
Pastor: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
People: But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(We take an extended time of silence to personally confess our sins before the Lord’s throne of grace and prepare our hearts to hear words of forgiveness.)
Pastor: Brothers and sisters in Christ, hear now words of forgiveness, spoken to you, flowing from the cross: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.” On the cross, God the Father took your sins and laid them upon His Son, Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus triumphed over sin, death, hell, and the devil. Everything Jesus did on the cross, He did for you. Because of the cross, you are fully and freely forgiven.
People: Amen.
THE CREED: LUTHER’S EXPLANATION OF THE SECOND ARTICLE
All: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. Amen.
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
COMMUNION HYMN: “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in his Hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth he stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture – in the body and the blood –
He will give to all the faithful his own self for heavenly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of Light descendeth from the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.
At his feet the six-winged seraph-cherubim, with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry,
"Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord Most High."
DISTRIBUTION
SALUTATION
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us pray.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: Almighty God, graciously behold this Your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men to suffer death upon the cross; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 53:3-12
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING: John 18:19-24, 28-32
Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.” 22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. 23 “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. 28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” “But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
RESPONSIVE PSALM: Psalm 22:1, 7-11
Pastor: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
People: All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
Pastor: “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
People: Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
Pastor: From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
People: Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
THIRD READING: John 19:1-18
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. 4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” 13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
Pastor: This is the Gospel of Our Lord.
People: Praise to You, O Christ
SERMON HYMN: “O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken”
O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken
That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken?
Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession,
What dark transgression?
They crown Thy head with thorns, they smite, they scourge Thee;
With cruel mockings to the cross they urge Thee;
They give Thee gall to drink, they still decry Thee;
They crucify Thee.
What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The Shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander;
The Master pays the debt His servants owe Him,
Who would not know Him.
SERMON
PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all!
REMOVAL OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE (Leave in Silence)
*You will notice that there is no benediction at the end of this service. That is because this service will not be completed until we celebrate the victory of Jesus over death on Easter morning. Therefore, as you go about your days on Saturday you should still consider yourself participating in this service. Take time to think and pray over the sacrifice your Savior gave for you.
When the service is concluded you are asked to leave in complete silence as we take this time to consider what our savior went through for us. Our service awaits completion on Easter morning when we celebrate the victory of the resurrection. As you leave a bell will be rung 33 times, once for each year in our Savior's life.